Walking through the vast garden, Renard came to the small square in front of the palace of the Imperial Palace, where dozens of Praetorian Guards guarded the solemn castle, their armor and swords shining brightly.

Although the bell of the Great Morning Meeting had already been ringed, there was still half an hour left for everyone to prepare.

Being late was the prerogative of the wealthy aristocracy, and they took it to the extreme.

Near half past nine, there was a noisy and dense sound of footsteps outside the palace gate, mixed with various compliments.

"Count Mackinto, you look really good today, Marquis Quentin's health is okay, I really regret not being able to attend the Marquis's banquet yesterday. ”

"Baron Leiden, I see that your complexion is also good, and your strength has probably improved a lot, and you are worthy of being the grandson of Your Excellency Sidney, and you will definitely be able to inherit his old man's peerless talent. ”

"Oh, Count Edward, you're coming to the court, I haven't seen you for a few years, and I see that your body is getting stronger and stronger. ”

"Count Wilde, are you satisfied with the gift I gave you a few days ago, if you like it, I'll ask someone to get some, you don't have to be polite, we are our own family. ”

"Baron Plit, I have heard that His Royal Highness the Prince has not been in good health recently, and my family has a thousand-year-old wild ginseng purchased from a merchant in the East, I heard that it can regulate the body, and I will send it to you in a few days. ”

The sound of sycophants is endless, and they can be as flattering as they want, obviously these nobles can't wait for Lei Ye, so they turn their targets to other bigwigs.

For most of the court nobles who are struggling to make ends meet, they have such an opportunity to come into contact with the top magnates of the kingdom once a year, how can they not grasp it well.

Several of the serving court nobles beside Renard pursed their lips in disdain, muttering things like sycophants.

As the saying goes: a full man doesn't know that a hungry man is hungry.

Lei Ye and these people are all court nobles with positions, salaries, and family backgrounds, and they can still make some oil and water by using their positions, and their lives are still rich.

And those flattering court nobles have nothing, and a few hundred acres of fertile land alone cannot satisfy their extravagant desires, and many people need to borrow money to survive.

In desperation, they had no choice but to bow to the powerful.

Rather, it is to work hard to satisfy one's desires.

Of course, these have nothing to do with Lei Ye, even if the other party asks for his head

, he will not include these wine bags and rice bags that only know how to drill camps into his command.

But there is one exception, the shameless Viscount Neil.

This liar has a sharp mouth, and he is lacking such talent.

Just as Renard was thinking about how to take this Viscount Neil under his command, a greeting suddenly came from a distance: "Your Excellency the Governor, you arrived very early!"

The voice was elegant, equally familiar, and you didn't need to look at it to know that it was Count Mackinto.

Sure enough, as soon as Lei Ye raised his head, he saw Count Mackinto walking towards him with elegant steps.

Suddenly, the eyes of the surrounding nobles showed a look of surprise, and their eyes turned to Renard.

Discussion erupted: "Damn!, is he Baron Renard, the Governor of Southern Wilderness?" "Isn't he? he is standing among us?" "Count Mackinto will definitely not admit his mistake, he must be Governor Renard." ”

The voices of surprise, doubt, curiosity, and chagrin resounded throughout the small square, and the surrounding court nobles were all gearing up, eager to step forward and shoot a few loud sycophants.

Renard frowned slightly when he saw this, he didn't want to deal with these people.

Count Mackinto immediately guessed his thoughts, and glanced around, and several of the court nobles who came with him quickly surrounded the two, isolating them from the rest of the nobles.

This kind of behavior immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of many people, but no one dared to step forward and disturb without opening their eyes.

Renard was very satisfied with the way Count Mackinto disposed of it, and he greeted the other party with a smile: "Your Excellency, I didn't expect you to come to the court meeting. ”

Hearing this, Earl Mackinto shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "No way, who made me the king's courtier and enjoy the preferential treatment he gave?"

Lei Ye showed an undeniable expression, and then he looked back pretending to be puzzled: "Didn't Marquis Quentin come?"

In fact, he asked too much, the contradiction between the royal family and the Cronin family was about to be put on the table, how could the Marquis Quentin come and find it uncomfortable.

Earl Mackinto hurriedly found an excuse to prevaricate: "My father is old, his health is not very good, and he was happy yesterday, drank more wine, and is still lying in bed." ”

Is there a more far-fetched reason than to be able to attend the pilgrimage because he drank too much?

Renard didn't go for idiots

poked, but apologized with a wry smile: "Yesterday I was too indulgent, I didn't know that His Excellency the Marquis was ill, and I actually pulled him to drink a few more glasses." ”

Hearing this, Earl Mackinto waved his hand: "Father is a good wine, even if you don't take the lead, my father will drink to his heart's content." ”

That's right, last night Lei Ye drank almost like a fountain, and the old guy poured it into his mouth very hard.

The two chatted for a while, and then Earl Mackinto changed the topic and asked, "Your Excellency the Governor should be attending the court meeting for the first time, right?"

Lei Ye nodded: "That's right." ”

Count Mackinto smiled and asked, "Then don't you need me to introduce some colleagues to you, the Great Dynasty Meeting is only held once a year, and there are quite a few feudal officials who come to participate." ”

The so-called grand court meeting is actually a day when lords and nobles from all over the country meet the king and report on their work.

Of course it's not mandatory, you can come if you want, and you won't come if you don't want to.

However, unless the road is too far, the vast majority of nobles will not miss this opportunity to make more powerful people.

Since there is a big court, there must be a small court.

The court meeting held by the king at the beginning of each month is a small court meeting, which is usually attended by the military and political bigwigs of the Rose Province, and reports the taxes and other conditions of each town to His Majesty the King, which is the same as Lei Ye's monthly statistics on army expenses.

Lei Ye was not very interested in this, the more people he knew, the more suspicious King Ferdinand would be.

Don't say it's the king, it's Renard himself, he doesn't want his courtiers with power to be too secretive, and he still understands the principle of not doing to others what you don't want to do to others.

So Lei Ye politely rejected this proposal: "The court meeting is about to start, let's wait for this matter to wait until after the court meeting." ”

The look of disappointment in Earl Mackinto's eyes was fleeting, and he shrugged his shoulders and said that it didn't matter: "Who do you want to be, can tell me that I have been in the royal capital for decades, and there are really many people who can speak." ”

When Renard heard this, he was about to nod his head perfunctory, but suddenly remembered Viscount Neil, and he hurriedly asked, "Viscount Neil, you should be familiar with it?"

Hearing this, Earl Mackinto laughed and said, "I'm afraid there is no one in the whole king who is not familiar with Viscount Neil. ”

Immediately after, his smile froze directly on his face, and he asked in disbelief, "You don't want to know him, do you?"